Shelby's Amazing Instagram
by pomatterpie
Summary: A related one-shot to "Everything Changes," in which Rachel and her Aunt Kim teach Broadway superstar Shelby Corcoran how to use Instagram. Set in the EC AU.


**A/N:** _Clearly inspired by Indina's amazing Insta stories lol and while it's not necessary to have read Everything Changes to understand this story, I recommend that you check it out anyway! And for those reading, this is set in between the month after the car accident and before spring break in chapter twenty five. _

* * *

"Alright Rach, you have exactly thirty minutes and not a second past that," Shelby warned her clearly far too eager teenager as she sat down at the kitchen table. "I have a stack of papers from my AP Lit class I need to grade, a Vocal Adrenaline composition to arrange, and a letter of recommendation to write for one of my seniors, I…"

"Woah, woah, woah, woah, _woah,"_ Rachel interrupted with her hands up, shaking her head in sincere disapproval. "First of all, _mother_, you cannot be talking about horribly boring things like grading papers, arranging music, or writing letters on your Instagram, okay?" she remarked in total disdain. "That's _not_ the content that people want."

Shelby groaned and could barely suppress an eye roll at her kid.

"Okay well, first of all, _daughter, _we live in _Lima _not Los Angeles. And in case you've forgotten, I'm a teacher now. I'm barely an actress anymore, and I definitely do not have Instagram-worthy content to share, so remind me again why we're doing this?"

"Because you told me that you'd do anything to help me feel better," Rachel replied, jetting her lower lip out ever so slightly and batting her eyelashes a little too slowly. "Remember? I just suffered from an intense life-threatening car accident and _you_ promised _me_, your daughter, your only child, that you'd consider doing this if it actually made me happy. And I'm telling you right now that it _totally_ does. So excited! Kurt and Mercedes are already following you."

The teenager squealed again in excitement as she passed off her cell phone to her mother sitting next to her. With a deft finger, she pulled the social media app up on the screen. "Look mom, since Marty set it up and got your account verified a couple days ago, you already have _seventeen thousand _followers. And a bunch of other Broadway actors and actresses have followed you too. April Rhodes already tagged you in a throwback picture of the two of you during a _Wicked _rehearsal back then. _And… _wait for it…. _Oprah_ is following you."

"What?"

"Okay well, _O, The Oprah Magazin_e, does, but close enough! And so do a ton of other media outlets and other journalists and entertainment reporters."

"Great," Shelby commented, unamused as she watched her kid scroll through the list of verified accounts following her. _Was that Ellen? _"Just what I needed."

"It _is_ what you need, mom! I promise!"

"Oh yeah?" Shelby chuckled, leaning over to nudge the teen playfully. Her kid was practically buzzing. "Please, do enlighten me on why."

"_Because_," Rachel began with an exaggerated sigh. "You don't have a single social media account, mother. And you're _Shelby Corcoran_, you have to connect with your fans! They've been _waiting _for this. It's a great way to interact with them."

The mother only shook her head in disagreement. She hasn't been _that_ Shelby in a long time. It's been almost three years since she left New York City behind her. It's been even longer than that since she last performed on the stage. A lifetime ago when she toured the country to promote her album. And it certainly felt like it was in a past life when she won her very own Tony Award for her work in _Wicked_.

No, she hasn't been _Shelby Corcoran_ in a while.

These days, her life _did_ consist of grading papers and arranging music as her daughter so aptly put it. Her job as a high school English teacher and show choir coach was completely unlike the evenings she spent on the Great White Way, but she genuinely enjoyed it. Teaching really did fulfill her.

But what she sincerely _loved_ even more was her still rather new job as Rachel's mother. Though it's been everything but easy since their reunion a few months ago, Shelby found that being a mom was the _best _albeit challenging role she's played so far. Definitely the one that's been the most worthwhile.

"_Mom_," Rachel's whine broke through her wandering thoughts. "Please pay attention to me. This is _important_."

Shelby melted at the girl's little pout and bashful innocent eyes, the exact deadly combination that could turn her into a pile of mom mush in an instant. Every single time.

"I'm sorry baby," she apologized, throwing her arm around her child's shoulder and pulling her close. "I'm paying attention," she promised with a gentle squeeze. "What were you saying, my love?"

Rachel sighed in content as she scooted closer to the woman, placing the phone screen in front of them so they could both see. "I was _saying _that social media is an excellent way for you to stay in touch with your fans."

Shelby placed a quick kiss at the side of her daughter's temple before replying. "Rach, it's been years, I don't know if I even have fans anymore," she said skeptically. "I don't think people really care what I have to share anymore."

Rachel gasped dramatically while she untangled herself from her mother's arms and glared at her in an incredulous manner. "That is simply not true! Mom," she groaned as she tried to make the former Broadway star see reason. "A lot of people care. Look, you already have so many tagged photos from your fans all over the country _and_ the world. This high school student from Brazil even uploaded a video of her singing one of your songs and tagged you in it. She's really good, see."

She quickly pulled up a short clip of a young fan singing an acapella version of one of her mom's original songs.

"Wow," Shelby said as she slipped on her reading glasses so she could get a better look. "That is… so nice," she said, surprisingly flattered and impressed by the cover.

"_I know_," Rachel nodded in agreement. "And there's been a ton of DMs from dozens of people all saying how happy they are that you've decided to make a profile. They're all looking forward to your first post!"

"DMs?" Shelby asked for more elaboration.

"Direct messages," Rachel explained, clicking on one of the many in the platform to show the woman. "You can read through and even reply to them if you want. I looked through some and a lot are from new _Wicked_ fans who have seen the current production on Broadway but just discovered who you are."

"Huh… really?" Shelby asked, her voice still doubtful. She had no idea that she was acquiring any _new_ fans.

"Mom," Rachel whined passionately, yet again, at her mother's skepticism. "I don't know why it's so hard for you to understand that you're a _legend_. Whether or not you believe it, thousands of people still care about you and what you're doing and what you have to say. You've impacted a lot of people with your acting and with your music. I don't know, like I've told you before, but growing up, you were my idol. I looked up to you so much. I wanted to be just like you. And I wish there was a way for me in the past to be able to engage with you like this firsthand. Your fans just want to get to know you and I think this is a great way for you to be closer to them. I wish this existed when we..." her voice wavered, "...when we were apart."

Shelby's lips fell at the truthful explanation, her stomach automatically tightening into coils, pure guilt taking over her expression. "Oh, Rach. I'm so sorry I didn't—"

Rachel shook her head, not interested in exploring _this_ particular conversation any further. It wasn't the time. "No it's okay, I swear," she shrugged it off. "I promise. It's fine I'm just saying that this is going to be awesome. Besides, this'll be a good way to get you some more clout, you know? I'm kinda worried that your star's fading a little bit, mom. We gotta make you more relevant again!"

"Alright," Shelby scoffed in fake insult. "Remind me to cut you off from speaking to Marty _ever_ again."

"No! He's fantastic. I want him to be _my_ manager and publicist when I'm famous. He has so many ideas, mom. If only you'd hear him out."

"Is he giving you a cut of whatever he's making off this?" Shelby joked with a raised eyebrow.

"Ugh, I wish. He really should because I'm about to kick-start the second coming of your career. Re-introducing the world to Shelby Corcoran!" Rachel declared as she stood up abruptly, striking her best quintessential Broadway-pose by lifting her arms up and wide out to the ceiling.

Shelby let out a laugh in amusement at the impassioned pronouncement, forever entertained by her one and only child's incomparable flair for dramatics.

"What should we post for your first picture?" Rachel asked excitedly as she settled back down to get back to business. "Maybe one of you and me? Please mama?"

"Uh no," Shelby objected without hesitation, her tone turning serious. "Absolutely not Rach," she reiterated, steeling herself against the pout being directed her way.

"But _why_?"

"Because you already know why, my love," the mother replied, not at all interested in negotiating. "We've talked about this before, Rach. You, me, your dad, and your daddy, remember? I will not be sharing any photos or any identifying information about you to the media or on the Internet, _especially_ not on social media. It's not up for debate and definitely out of the question, kid."

Shelby sighed. When she first got her parental rights reinstated, she didn't have to think too much about how she was going to deal with introducing her teenage daughter to the world. It was going to be carefully and privately. While she wanted to be honest and had no intentions of keeping their relationship a secret from the public, it was imperative to her to safeguard her child's privacy and shield the girl from any scrutiny, specifically. She settled for issuing a quick and vague statement explaining that she was a surrogate for two men in the past and that circumstances have changed and she was now co-parenting their fourteen-year-old child. There was a small media storm about the revelation for a few days, but she left it to her long-time manager back in New York City to handle. It also helped that they did live in Central Ohio and there wasn't an existing press corps here to hound them about it. Aside from the occasional interview requests that she habitually turned down, things on that front have simmered down significantly, much to her relief.

"But _mom."_

"Nope. I am only trying to protect you here, Rachel. Do not push me on this."

"Ugh fine," Rachel backed down at the sternness in the woman's voice. "Can't believe that the only information that the entire world knows about me is from Marty's lame press release. He didn't even talk about how you gave birth to an amazingly talented aspiring Broadway star. And this sucks, I would've made _great_ Insta content. I'm cute. I sing. I dance. What a missed opportunity."

"You certainly are," laughed Shelby. "And I'm sorry Rach. We can revisit this when you're older, but for right now, we're just going to have to deprive the world of this _extremely _cute face of yours," she said, reaching over to pinch her daughter's cheek, earning a joyful peal of laughter from the girl.

"Can we get a dog?" Rachel pitched instead through her mirth. "Cause then you can post pictures of him or her instead of me. Everyone on the Internet _loves _dog photos."

Shelby shook her head and looked at the clock. "You now only have twenty minutes."

A moment later, the sound of the front door opening captured their attention to the hallway when Shelby's younger sister Kim appeared sporting a bright and devilish grin spread across her face.

"Who's ready for Instagram Boot Camp?!"

Shelby groaned and dropped her head into her hands. "Rachel," she growled. "You invited your Aunt Kim?"

"You bet I did," the teen replied as she stood up to hug the other woman hello. "I don't know if you're aware mom, but Aunt Kim is a social media _whiz_. Her Instagram is so good! Pure gold."

Laughing as she wrapped her arm around her niece, Kim winked at her older sister. "What can I say, Shelly? I've always been way more hip than you," she turned her attention back to the teenager in her arms and kissed the top of her head, squeezing lightly before letting go. "Hi Rae, how's your head? Feeling better?"

"I'm okay," Rachel nodded, smiling as she stepped out of the embrace. "It's fine today. My only headache is from _mom _being completely inept at technology."

"Hey! I am not," Shelby protested in slight offense while she scrolled past the third food picture on her feed. "I just don't understand the hype with Instagram. Are people really going to be interested if I share a selfie or what I ate for dinner last night?"

"No, because we are going to give them better quality Instagram content than that," Rachel replied. She plucked the cell phone from her mother's hand and typed in her Aunt's Instagram handle then clicked on the latest post. "And Aunt Kim will show you because she has the funniest posts. Watch this."

Shelby accepted the phone back dutifully and read the caption at the bottom of the post matched to a video of her sister lip-synching to the chorus of _Let It Go._

"_Me to my twins when they throw a fit over my husband and I not allowing them to run down the stairs."_

She laughed and scrolled to the picture beneath it of her five-year-old niece and nephew sitting on the floor of their living room blissfully coloring on the family's newly-purchased rug.

"_You can have nice things or you can have kids, but you can't have both."_

Shelby shook her head in amusement then swiped up to see one more post of a candid photo of her sister, presumably taken by her brother-in-law Brian, watching the young children play at the park.

"_I'm just a Mom,_

_Standing in front of my kids, _

_Waiting for them to do something so I can Instagram it."_

"You're ridiculous Kim," Shelby decided, shaking her head as she passed the phone back to Rachel.

"You're just jealous," Kim teased while she settled into the open seat across from the mother and daughter. "I'm practically one children's vitamin gummy sponsorship away from being a big-time mommy influencer. I'm hashtag… _relatable_. Isn't that right, Rae?"

"Heck yeah," Rachel agreed as she leaned over to accept the woman's high five. "Please take notes, mom. With mine and Aunt Kim's help, you'll have an _amazing_ Instagram in no time."

Shelby slouched in her seat and threw her head back at the ceiling, groaning as if she was in great pain.

"You two have fifteen minutes left."

* * *

_One Week Later_

Rachel can't really say that she's a regretful person. Not really. But this. _This_ she regretted so much.

Only her mother would find a way to suck all the fun out of her Instagram for her.

She rolled over on her bed and swiped her cell phone off the table when she heard it chime to flag an incoming text message.

_Kurt:_ _Your mom's newest Insta story is hilarious! She's so funny. And btw, Shelby's Amazing Insta Stories was trending on Broadway twitter last night. So cool!_

Rachel groaned and switched over to the social media app and clicked on the newest Instagram Story from Shelby Corcoran.

A moment later, her mother's face filled up the screen. "Hi guys and welcome to another riveting installment of Shelby's Amazing Insta stories," the woman took an unnecessary long pause and stared at the camera. "It's a quiet evening at home tonight and—" the first video abruptly stopped and Shelby's face popped up again a millisecond later. "I'm also not appreciating that this _thing_ cuts me off at very inopportune times because I anticipate saying a lot of important—"

The Instagram story ended. That was it. Nothing else.

_Kurt: And there's already a GIF circulating from her Insta story of her brushing her teeth the other day. And I saved the one of her last week when she was trying to answer people's questions but couldn't figure out how to reply so she just ranted about how it wasn't intuitive and tagged Mark Zuckerbug. LOL!_

Rachel put her phone down, pulled the pillow from underneath her head, and placed it over her face. She tried. She really tried. But her mother was helpless. Rather than curating polished and dynamic social media content like she had hoped, her mother, instead, was sharing entirely banal posts of her everyday life… completely and totally unironically.

There was the post of her announcing that she was eating a sweet potato for breakfast. The video of her cheering on the trash men as they collected their garbage. A selfie of her but with text all over it because she couldn't figure out how to move the paragraph away from her face. The one where she told all _forty six thousand _followers she's gained that she just woke up from a midday nap in her office during a school day. Always completely unedited and makeup free or full of random emojis and using one of the many face filters and special effects available to use.

This was _not_ what her Instagram dreams were made of.

The one thing that her mother _did_ have down though was branding. She, without fail, consistently started the videos welcoming her fans to "Shelby's amazing Instagram or Insta story," always in a wry manner, always unenthused.

The content was seventy percent of her mother struggling with technology and not knowing how to use the app and thirty percent sharing absolutely normal things about her day and her life.

A far, far cry from the glamorous Instagram feed that Rachel was envisioning for the Broadway star.

Another ping from a notification drew her away from her hiding spot. She grabbed her phone again and suppressed another groan when she saw she had a direct message on Instagram from her mother.

With a sigh, she swiped left to open it and a video from the woman using a starry night galaxy filter showed up. "_Hi Rach_, _I see that you're online. But I really hope that you're doing your homework up there. Dinner soon. Love you to the moon and—"_

A second later, another video came in, this time, her mom was using the black and white noir face filter with the net yarn pillbox hat and bright red lipstick. "_Sorry, this thing always interrupts me but aren't you glad you made me download it? You're right. I do feel so much closer to you," _she winked then blew a kiss at the camera. "_Muah_."

Rachel could only laugh.

Shelby's amazing Instagram, indeed.

* * *

**A/N: **_Lol hope you all liked this_. _Also I don't know if you guys know who Jackie Burns is (she played Elphaba on Broadway/2NT and was Idina's understudy in If/Then), but she's who I imagine how Kim looks like. Anyway, thanks for reading! See you for the next EC update._


End file.
